Business Studies for Dummies

Richard Pettinger, MBA, is the Principal Teaching Fellow in Management Education at the Department of Management Science and Innovation, University College London. He is also Director of the BSc/MSci Information Management for Business programme, a major national initiative to transform undergraduate and pre-professional business and management education.

Part I: What Is Business?  5

Chapter 1: Understanding Business and Business Studies 7

Chapter 2: Identifying the Internal and External Influences on Business 21

Chapter 3: Using Business Analyses 37

Chapter 4: Making Decisions 61

Part II: How Business Works 75

Chapter 5: Structuring and Evolving Organisations 77

Chapter 6: Meeting Stakeholder Demands 91

Chapter 7: Organising for Success 103

Part III: How to Be a Business and Do Business  119

Chapter 8: Understanding Business Strategy 121

Chapter 9: Creating Great Products and Services 137

Chapter 10: Marketing Your Products or Services 151

Part IV: Money, Money, Money  171

Chapter 11: Understanding Finance 173

Chapter 12: Structuring Accounts 193

Chapter 13: Investing in the Present and in the Future 211

Chapter 14: Using Numbers in Business 231

Part V: The Awkward Bit: The People! 245

Chapter 15: Knowing People 247

Chapter 16: Managing Human Resources 269

Chapter 17: Handling Employee Relations 289

Part VI: Putting It All Together  307

Chapter 18: Examining Operations 309

Chapter 19: Delivering Great Projects 327

Chapter 20: Using Technology to Your Best Advantage 341

Part VII: The Part of Tens 357

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Succeeding at Business School 359

Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Put Your Knowledge to Work Outside the Classroom 367

Index 375

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